NPR… for me to poop on!

Crescat Sententia points to a Terry Gross interview with Triumph, the Insult Comic Dog. Key quotation:

I can't believe the government is paying for this interview. My money that could be going to pekinese hookers is instead going to this public radio that's obviously more slanted than my [BLEEP] after I've [BLEEP]ed a St. Bernard.

Comments

[kevin d. white]

Beats me. I don't watch O'Reilly. I guess said Congressman's constituants want to take over NPR. Good luck to them. Doesn't really say jack about where NPR's funding comes from though. Or why Terry Gross chose to interview a hand puppet.

Some individual programs get some of their money from government agencies, such as the NEA. In fact, I think Fresh Air goes get an NEA grant. So There certainly is some tax dollars in there. I don't know the actual percentage for Fresh Air though. So I guess Julian's initial rant is somewhat accurate at least on the funding side.

Here's Fresh Air's statement:
http://freshair.npr.org/about_fa.jhtml

Here's NPR's explanation of their funding sources: http://www.npr.org/about/privatesupport.html.

Here's PRI's statement:
http://www.pri.org/PublicSite/inside/index.html.

[Les]

Actually, I think she was interviewing Robert Smigel, the hand up the dog's ass. Smigel is responsible for most of the very few funny moments on SNL since the mid eighties. He's responsible for the cartoon "TV Funhouse" bits that are usually very, very funny.

[Julian Sanchez]

A single line quoting an interview is a "rant"?

[rufus]

Yes, that's exactly who she was interviewing.

And the quote in question was part of an extended parody of past interviews with Bill O'Reilly and Gene Simmons.

[Ellie]

Or why Terry Gross chose to interview a hand puppet.

Because it was really fucking funny? ^_^ Terry herself was laughing so hard she was snorting.

I did hear most of the interview -- the first part was with "Triumph" himself, doing his shtick; the second part was with Robert Smigel himself.

Anyway, I enjoyed it muchly, myself.

[Anonymous]

Of course NPR is funded by the government. Stop denying it.

[Brian Carnell]

My understanding is that the CPB does not *directly* fund NPR. The CPB gives money to individual stations who then use some of those funds as well as donations from listeners to purchase NPR content. So no, NPR isn't directly receiving governmet funding, but without government funding there would clearly be fewer stations carrying NPR.

[Concerned Citizen]

Brian, thanks for the explanation. I'm glad to see that CPB & NPR are not only as slanted to left as the average NASCAR speedway but are also devious: Rather than direct appropriations you have described a nice money laundering scheme.

[Xavier]

The Masturbaing Bear is much funnier than Triumph.

[rufus]

It's a great thread when the above sentence is actually on topic.

[T from boston]

I found this on the web - looks like NPR does gets it funding from the US goverment.

http://www.nprhatesamerica.com/funding/

[rufus]

An obviously unbiased source.

ahem.

[Andy D.]

"The Masturbaing Bear is much funnier than Triumph."

I agree. The masturbating bear is great. For me to poop on! One of the funniest things I've ever seen was Triumph on some Hawaiin news station. I love Conan OBrien, but Triumph is the best thing to ever come out of that show.

[Warren]

You damn kids today. The only comedy I find funny anymore is "The Daily Show". Triumph and Conan just leave me scratching my head wondering how anyone thinks this is funny. Same goes for Adam Sandler and Jim Carry. I 'get' it, I just think it's stupid. Give me Steve Martin (in the 80's), George Carlin (in the 70's) and Galager (when he smoked pot).

As for NPR, as far as I can tell it's no more on the public teat than most other media outlets. But they're still a bunch of pinkos.

[Jim Treacher]

"Oh for the Love of...! The *government* has not funded NPR for many years."

Gasp! Next you'll tell us his remark about how "nobody listens to NPR but 60-year-old hippies" is demonstrably false. J'accuse, rubber dog puppet with a cigar in its mouth! J'accuse!

"Triumph and Conan just leave me scratching my head wondering how anyone thinks this is funny."

No kidding.

[Jim Treacher]

By the way, any other TV Funhouse fans? Not the SNL cartoons, but the half-hour show on Comedy Central. They only made 8 episodes, but they've started showing them really late at night. Uneven but sometimes hilarious. And the final episode had what I'm pretty sure is the last funny thing John Ritter ever did.

[Treach]

They're showing it AGAIN, I meant to say. It was made in 2000, I think. Oh, and Triumph shows up for a couple of episodes in Atlantic City. Okay, I'm done.

[Andy D.]

Warren, objectively speaking, you're wrong! Steve Martin had his moments, but he got tiring very quickly and most of his comedy relied on inane gags like talking loudly or in a "funny" voice. George Carlin is only funny if you're a bitter ex-Catholic or you find specious "contradictions" amusing. Gallager is funny if you're high... otherwise, he falls flat.

As for Conan... sure, he has his off moments, but anyone who can come up with the idea of having a guy in a blue suit doing the weather must be a comic genius. Plus, he wrote several Simpsons episodes, including the monorail one... so obviously he's great. And Jim Carrey... ok, I admit that my enjoying some of his stuff is indefensible. But you are absolutely right about Adam Sandler... no-talent hack.

[kevin d. white]

Oh for the Love of...! The *government* has not funded NPR for many years. NPR and most other public broadcasting outlets receive nearly all their funding from subscribers. Even the ones hosted by public universities, like my local KUER http://www.kuer.org/insidefm90/, get only a minority of their funds from the hosting institution. So back off the "My tax dollars" crap.

Now with that out of the way...it was a really inane interview.

[heh2k]

then what's the deal w/ the congressman from new york who was on o'reilly recently? he kept saying how his constituents want npr funded by the gov (and then changed the subject to major networks' license fees w/o answering any real questions).

[Douglas Fletcher]

Conan, yeah sure he must be brilliant, to do a comedy show for ten years and never get a laugh out of me -- me, a man who lives to cackle like a herd of drunken chickens!

[kevrob]

The Nov. 20 "Fresh Air" is archived @

http://freshair.npr.org/day_fa.jhtml;jsessionid=WITR24QQCPTFBLA5AINCF4A?display=day&todayDate=11/20/2003

It streams in Real Audio format.

The % of "government spending" behind your local NPR affiliate is a mystery. If the license is in the name of a local government authority, such as a school district, government university or special government-chartered broadcast board, then the accounting will be suspect. Space provided for broadcast facilities at University of State at City may not be rented at market rates, nor may utilities and other services be provided without hidden subsidies. Others have described the Tinker-to-Evers-to-Chance trip federal funds make from CPB to the stations. Even the non-commercial station I enjoy the most, hosted by a private university, gets about 10% of its funding from various levels of govt.

Kevin

[growler]

One of the funniest things ever, Triumph interviewing Star Wars geeks.

http://gamefiles.blueyonder.co.uk/blueyondergames/trailers/ROFL.STARWARS.NERDS.wmv

Smigel's Rudolph parody:

http://www.curiouspictures.com/commercials/clips/snl%5Fnarrator.html

[Terry Gross]

Fuck all y'all. Now that we've got Ray Kroc's money we'll run anything we please.

[not Weishaupt]

Screw Triumph! Ed the sock rules.

[Lieber Katherine]

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